Basia Bulat Paste Listening Party at Professor Thom’s (01/21/10)

DOWNLOAD: Basia Bulat – “Go On”
DOWNLOAD: Basia Bulat – “Goldrush”

Canada’s Basia Bulat has a new album coming out this month (Jan 26) on Rough Trade and she’ll be making a couple of appearances in NYC in January, though not playing any full sets this time around. She’s opening for My Brightest Diamond on January 22 at the Bowery Ballroom (Buy Tickets) and she’ll be playing a short set (maybe 4 songs?) at Professor Thom’s during a Paste Magazine sponsored “listening party” for Heart of My Own on Jan 21. No word yet on when she’ll be making up her previously aborted show at The Bell House, but she’ll be back in the Northeast in March, so that would be my best guess.

Written during a leave of absence from her Master’s thesis in English, Heart of My Own reflects a love of literature that began when Bulat’s mother gave her eight-year-old daughter a copy of Jane Eyre. Her favourite Emily Dickenson poems echo the rhythm of a church choir — a kind of written cadence also reflected in classic Motown, which draws on gospel singing.

Bulat’s interest in craft also comes out through the careful thought she put into sequencing the album. The album takes on a dramatic arc built around two sides (side A ends with Sparrow) that communicate a dynamic range of sound through ebbs and flows of arrangements and energy.

“(I wanted each song) to signal what would happen next — to draw that out,” she said. “(For example) the last line of the first song is, ‘Let them know the burden of your blues.’ Then song two is a fun song. I really like to be able to play that way with words, and hope that came across.” [MetroNews.ca]

More Basia Bulat tour dates after the jump.

Basia Bulat 2010 Tour Dates
Jan 16 2010 Trinity St Paul Toronto, ON
Jan 21 2010 Professor Thom’s Paste Mag Listening Party w/ short set New York, NY
Jan 22 2010 Bowery Ballroom (supporting My Brigtest Diamond) New York, NY
Jan 27 2010 Underbelly Hoxton London, London and South East
Jan 29 2010 La Maroquinerie Paris, Ile-de-France
Feb 02 2010 Sydenham United Church Kingston, ON
Feb 03 2010 The Red Dog Peterborough, ON
Feb 04 2010 The Aeolian Performing Arts London, ON
Feb 05 2010 Highwayman Inn Orilla, ON
Feb 06 2010 Hillside Inside – Sleeman Ctr Guelph, ON
Feb 07 2010 The Casbah Hamilton, ON
Feb 10 2010 St. Matthews United Church Halifax, NS
Feb 11 2010 St. Matthews United Church Halifax, NS
Feb 12 2010 L’Astral Montreal, QC
Feb 13 2010 First Baptist Church Ottawa, ON
Feb 23 2010 Schubas Chicago, IL
Feb 24 2010 Cedar Cultural Centre Minneapolis, MN
Feb 25 2010 West End Cultural Centre Winnipeg, MB
Feb 27 2010 Amigo’s Saskatoon, SK
Mar 02 2010 Central United Church Calgary, AB
Mar 03 2010 Starlite Room Edmonton, AB
Mar 05 2010 St. James Hall Vancouver, BC
Mar 07 2010 Tractor Tavern Seattle, WA
Mar 08 2010 Mississippi Studios Portland, OR
Mar 10 2010 Hotel Utah San Francisco, CA
Mar 17 2010 SXSW Austin, TX
Mar 23 2010 IOTA Arlington, TX
Mar 24 2010 First Unitarian Chapel Philadelphia, PA
Mar 25 2010 Iron Horse Music Hall Northampton, MA
Mar 26 2010 TT The Bear’s Cambridge, MA